Where to Get a Small-Business Loan

If you want to expand your business, you're going to need some cash.
Money still isn't falling off trees for small businesses, and the lending seas can be a challenge to navigate. Although you need funding, you want to make sure your deal is better than the one offered by the neighborhood loan shark.Money might be available thanks to stimulus spending, but that doesn't mean it's easy to get.

"The [banks] have tightened their lending policies, and it is more difficult for an entrepreneur to get financing,'' says Velda Eugenias, a certified financial planner with Eugenias Advisory Group in Gadsden, Ala. "It is causing the small-business owner to have to get creative with finding sources of capital.''

Google earnings soar 38%

Google posted quarterly sales and profit that trumped Wall Street expectations Thursday, boosted by a rebounding advertising market.The search giant's net income was $1.96 billion, or $6.06 per share, in the first quarter, up 38% from $1.42 billion from the same period last year

Excluding one-time charges, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company earned $2.18 billion in the first quarter, or $6.76 per share, up from $1.64 billion a year earlier. That easily beat analysts expectations, which called for earnings of $6.60 per share.

Apple's Chinese iPhone sales explode

Unit sales increase 9 fold from last year. Total revenue from greater China: $1.3 billion

Analysts scratching their heads about how they could have so badly underestimated Apple's (AAPL) iPhones sales — and as a result, its revenue and earnings — in the quarter that ended March 27 need look no further than the Chinese market for iPhones.

The 8.752 million iPhones Apple sold in Q2 2010 beat Wall Street's estimates by 25% to 30% — or nearly 2 million phones.

Where did those sales come from? A big chunk of them, it seems, came from China. Listen to this exchange between Barclay's Ben Reitzes and Apple COO Tim Cook during Tuesday's earnings call with analysts:

New Google tool spotlights requests for user data

In what it calls a stand against online censorship, Google has created a tool that will let users know how often governments around the world ask the company to pass on user data or delete content from its search results and other services.
The search giant's new Government Requests tool also publicly tracks how many of the requests Google has honored.

So which government tops the chart? So far that's Brazil, which asked Google for user information 3,663 times and sent 291 content removal requests in the last six months of 2009. Google says it honored 83% of Brazil's removal requests.
The company's removal compliance rate varies widely. For example, it honored 94% of the 188 requests it got from Germany's government agencies but only 44% of the 16 requests Canada sent over.
The United States is hot on Brazil's tail, sending Google 3,580 requests for user data and 123 removal requests. More than half of those targeted content on Google's YouTube video site. Google says it complied with 81% of the U.S. requests.

Coca-Cola

Top 50 rank: 10
Rank in Beverages: 1
(Previous rank: 3)
Overall score: 6.98

Why it's admired

While sales lagged in the U.S. last year, the food and beverage maker saw growth in emerging markets like China and India, as well as Europe, where favorable exchange rates have helped bring fizzier revenues. Coke has been a leader when it comes to environmental issues: It is aiming to be water neutral -- meaning every drop of water used by the company will be replenished -- by 2020, and CEO Muhtar Kent participated in climate change talks in Copenhagen in

Google

Top 50 rank: 2
Rank in Internet Services and Retailing: 1
(Previous rank: 1)
Overall score: 7.70

Guide to Choosing the Right Domain Name

Welcome to the "new" Internet where something odd has occurred: While registering a domain name is super simple, deciding which one to get and what "extension" to hang it on is more complicated than ever. When you select a domain name for your business, you must also choose an extension – the portion of the name that comes after the "dot," like .com, .net or .org. These extensions are called "top level domains" or TLDs, and they've been proliferating like mosquitoes in a swamp. Newer TLDs include .jobs, .coop, .name, .aero, .mobi, .geo and .tel, among others. Of course, the "original" .com is great for most businesses, but the best names on that extension are long gone. One of the newer TLDs of interest is .pro, for professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and engineers. The .pro extension is available in two flavors: "profession-specific," such as patent.law.pro and "generic" such as patent.pro where the "middle name" (here "law") is left out. Here's a rundown of some key TLDs:

Leaving a legacy on a shoestring

Boomers have a well-deserved reputation for living in the moment. We've spent freely on things like travel and technology to enjoy what life offers. Now, nearing retirement and socked hard by the recession, many of us are so behind in our savings that we must rethink our long-term financial goals.
One prime area of sacrifice: the notion of a healthy bequest for our children and grandchildren.

That's not a tragedy. Boomers have never been as determined as our parents to leave our loved ones an inheritance. We're more likely to believe that passing down values, traditions, and cherished possessions is more important than leaving behind lots of cash, according to a study by life insurer Allianz.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to leave something more tangible than holiday customs and of greater value than your old engagement ring? After all, cash left for a grandchild's education or to secure a cherished family cabin is a reflection of your values too.

100 best money moves you can make

Cocktail-party chatter about the next hot stock is back. Ignore that tipster with the margarita and check out the picks below. Experts say they have good growth prospects as the economy strengthens.

Applied Materials: Paul Larson, an equities strategist at Morningstar, pegs sales of semiconductor equipment (which suffered mightily during the recession) to get a major boost soon.

Brown & Brown: This insurance broker has "an excellent niche" serving smaller businesses, says Brad Hinton, a portfolio anager at Weitz Funds. It's positioned to buy competitors on the cheap.

The tale of Goldman's fraud charges

In a 22-page complaint filed Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs with defrauding investors on real estate securities likely to go bust.
The legal document reads less like a court filing, and more like a twisted story of how actions by Wall Street's most notorious investment bank allegedly caused losses of $1 billion for investors.

Here's what it said:

The opportunity: real estate bubble

In late 2006 and early 2007, when the United States housing market is beginning to show signs of distress, hedge fund Paulson & Co. takes a "bearish view on subprime mortgage loans," according to the SEC complaint.

How Altria Is Winnowing Out Fake Marlboros

The tobacco giant's private cops are going to new lengths to stop contraband smokes 

On a clear February morning, a team of inspectors marches into the Subrina Mini Mart in the working-class Queens (N.Y.) neighborhood of Woodhaven. The shelves are stacked with instant noodles, Lysol, canned beans, and, of course, cigarettes. The clerk looks nervous.

The inspectors, employees of a private-investigation firm hired by tobacco giant Altria (MO), are searching for counterfeit packs of Marlboros and any that have slipped past New York tax authorities. Three times over the past year this store allegedly sold fake smokes to an undercover agent employed by the Richmond

Trichet Says ECB Regards Greece Aid Plan as ’Positive’ Solution

For more on the Greek crisis, see

By Jana Randow and Christian Vits

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he considers European leaders’ aid plan for Greece as “positive” and urged the Greek government to “vigorously” implement its consolidation efforts.

“I consider the decision that was taken at the weekend to implement technically the heads agreement at the level of the governments of the euro area as positive,” Trichet told reporters in Frankfurt today. “We expect all parties concerned to continue to be up to their responsibilities and of course the Greek government implementing vigorously the additional measures taken and that we had qualified as convincing in the Governing Council.”

Lawyers predict challenge of $197 million judgment against Naftogaz

KIEV, April 8 – Naftogaz Ukrayiny could challenge an intermediate decision by the tribunal of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce on a claim by Swiss-based RosUkrEnergo gas trader against JSC Naftogaz Ukrayiny for payment by the Ukrainian company of $197 million to the plaintiff in the Svea Court of Appeal, according to lawyers polled by Interfax-Ukraine.

"The Swedish Arbitration Act of 1999 foresees certain possibilities to challenge decisions in courts of appeal within the jurisdiction of the place the arbitration hearing was held. If the place of the arbitration hearings is not indicated, the decision could be challenged in the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm," a lawyer of the Pavlenko and Poberezhniuk law firm, Anna Kombikova, said.